Meet Selfie Queen India Westbrooks

With over 2 million followers on social media and a TV show The Westbrooks on BET, we’ve all been dying to know: who is the real India Westbrooks and how do we get our selfies to look like hers?! From our perspective, she is an inspirational, trailblazing socialite whose future career endeavors, alongside her sisters, will be a force to be reckoned with. Here, we get a closer look at the life of India Westbrooks and her take on the things we’ve all been dying to know.

Cliché: Your social media presence and new show The Westbrooks on BET has opened many doors and opportunities for you. With you only being 20, what do you want to do when you grow up? What is your dream career?India Westbrooks: Indeed The Westbrooks on BET did open many doors for me and my career. A reality show is definitely the start of my “dream career,” which I don’t really have a name for. I’m 20 and have a great big itch for greatness and success. I aim to one day inspire my generation and all of the young girls and boys who don’t have the confidence to be themselves and just be amazing at it. I haven’t found my specialty in life yet, so for now, my dream career is building my brand. My brand is very important to me because that is my dream “job.” From inventory, to modeling, to speaking to the youth, to endorsements to charities—I mean, my dreams for my name and my brand are endless… and I set goals to achieve those things and work towards it every day.

Who are your major idols and role models?A major role model in my life is definitely “CrySTALLL,” aka my sister Crystal. [Laughs] Her style, her uniqueness, and her ability to maintain herself in a world full of tornadoes of trends is really something I salute, so I definitely look up to her and her ways. A major icon in my life is obviously QUEEN RiRi herself. Her presence speaks for itself and that’s exactly what I aim to be. Not only is she crazy successful from just being her and doing whatever she wants in life, but she’s also stamped in the fashion world as well and that’s a major goal of mine. I am inspired by everything about Rihanna, and I definitely respect her as a person.

Social media has such an impact on our day-to-day lives, whether they are positive or negative interactions. Do you ever receive negative comments on social media, and if so, how do you handle it?I’d say my social media comments are about 78% negative, which sucks by the way. [Laughs] But there’s honestly nothing I can do about it because I’m just being me. I learned the best way to deal with negative comments is not to. I may read the harmful words people may say about me, but I’m very confident in the woman I am and what I stand for, so nothing anyone can say can change that. I’m on a mission to better myself every single day. I do make mistakes—sometimes a lot of them—but I can tell you one thing: I’m definitely learning. And I feel like my growth from learning who I am and seeing the bigger picture helps me to navigate my energy away from hateful and harmful things. Instead, I focus on being great.

Your Instagram is filled with gorgeous selfies. Do you have any tips on how to take a killer selfie?You need amazing lighting, a clear camera, and camera angles on fleek. Also, confidence SHOWS. Take 100+ selfies at a time just for options and choose wisely. Many may look the same, but trust me… There’s that one winner in the bunch!

What do you love most about your career and lifestyle? Is there anything you’d like to change?What I love most about my career and lifestyle is that I built it on my own. I started building my brand at a young age without me even knowing I was doing so and ended up really creating a position for myself in life to inspire others and make a name for myself. That has created such a pedestal that my followers and fans put me on that I am still to this day trying to live up to.

If there was something I could change, it would definitely be learning the importance of privacy in life at younger age. I was the “I love it so much I wanna show the world” type of person and that definitely has had an effect on my life today, but I’ve definitely learned my lesson. It’s kind of a little too late for too much privacy now with the career I chose, though.

How has The Westbrooks impacted your personal and professional life?The Westbrooks has first and foremost brought my entire family closer together and hungry to achieve success as a unit, so that is something I’m truly grateful for. My family and I have all grown into true hustlers trying to brand our family name, “Westbrooks,” and seeing that is so dope.

Viewers and reporters have compared you and your family to the Kardashians. Do you think you have any similarities? What about differences?Being compared to the Kardashians is of course a compliment. My family is greatly inspired by the family hustle they all have and what they’ve grown to be. However, I do feel my family is a lot different than theirs. We’ve built our family name from being an inspiration to the audience and getting people to gravitate towards us, and then we as a family took off from there. We all share the fame and stand as a family

What advice do you have for girls who watch your show and follow you on social media who want to be as successful as you are?Some advice I have for the youth is to look in the mirror and realize who you are and own it right then and there. It’s so important to understand the importance in embracing yourself and learning what it is YOU want out of your life. Set goals to work towards it and really fuckin’ do it! Once you reach your success, then learn how to keep bettering yourself. There’s always room for improvement. Keep being a better you.

Hello! I'm Destiny. I am a sophomore at the University of Kentucky with a dual major in Political Science and Journalism. I love policy because it has the power to change the world, and I love journalism because it gives me that very power. Spreading love and positivity everyday.